Heat wave bakes Southern California
1:00 AM
Posted: Wednesday, July 04, 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A small plane crashed into high-voltage transmission lines Tuesday, stressing California's power grid as inland areas sizzled in a heat wave.
The private plane's crash into the San Diego-area electrical lines and an apparently unrelated loss of 1,900 megawatts of generation from several Southern California power plants led operators of the state's power grid to call for statewide conservation into the evening.
Some of the off-line power plants resumed operation in the afternoon and will meet demand through the Fourth of July, the California Independent System Operator said.
Officials remained concerned about supplies Thursday, expected to be the hottest day of the week, when workers back from the holiday will resume cooling office buildings.
Two people aboard the private plane were killed when it hit the power lines after departing an airport at 6 a.m., and about 1,700 homes and businesses in the area lost power.
Temperatures soared into the upper 90s and triple digits in the Central Valley and across the inland valleys and deserts of Southern California, raising worries about public health and fire. Needles, on the Colorado River, fried at 115.
"Red flag" warnings for fire danger were posted in many mountain and foothill areas of Southern California, the National Weather Service said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the opening of state cooling centers in 13 counties, and four senior centers in the San Fernando Valley have opened to provide air-conditioned relief to the elderly.
"Sometimes I feel like if the bus doesn't come, I'm going to melt," said Mercedes Jenkins, 24, as she waited for her ride to work in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park. "I look at the people in cars with their windows rolled up. I wish it was me."
At a site where a public library is being built in nearby Alhambra, construction worker Greg Higuera, 39, and co-workers wore water-soaked bandanas under their hard hats and around their necks. Sweat drenched their shirts, and water bottles weighed down their tool belts.
"It's miserable," Higuera said.
Four senior centers opened in the San Fernando Valley to provide air-conditioned relief to the elderly.
The combination of heat, low humidity, an extraordinarily dry rain season and the Fourth of July concerned fire authorities.
"We're especially nervous," said State Fire Prevention Chief Dave Hillman on the eve of Independence Day. Fire departments expect thousands of extra calls this week, he said.
"This fire season is stacking up to be the worst I've ever seen," said Burbank Fire Chief Tracy Pansini, a 28-year veteran.
Pansini canceled that city's fireworks celebration last month, after Southern California lost more than 5,000 acres of brush to early season blazes in Los Angeles' Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills and on Santa Catalina Island.
On June 30, downtown Los Angeles closed out its driest rain-year in more than a century of record keeping -- just 3.21 inches since July 1, 2006 -- and there have been no signs of improvement since.
Mixing such conditions with fireworks could be disastrous, Pansini said.
John Arellano of East Los Angeles received a safety flier with the box of fireworks he bought Tuesday at a stand in Alhambra.
Asked what would keep him from lighting them, he said: "Only if my kids misbehave."
The private plane's crash into the San Diego-area electrical lines and an apparently unrelated loss of 1,900 megawatts of generation from several Southern California power plants led operators of the state's power grid to call for statewide conservation into the evening.
Some of the off-line power plants resumed operation in the afternoon and will meet demand through the Fourth of July, the California Independent System Operator said.
Officials remained concerned about supplies Thursday, expected to be the hottest day of the week, when workers back from the holiday will resume cooling office buildings.
Two people aboard the private plane were killed when it hit the power lines after departing an airport at 6 a.m., and about 1,700 homes and businesses in the area lost power.
Temperatures soared into the upper 90s and triple digits in the Central Valley and across the inland valleys and deserts of Southern California, raising worries about public health and fire. Needles, on the Colorado River, fried at 115.
"Red flag" warnings for fire danger were posted in many mountain and foothill areas of Southern California, the National Weather Service said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the opening of state cooling centers in 13 counties, and four senior centers in the San Fernando Valley have opened to provide air-conditioned relief to the elderly.
"Sometimes I feel like if the bus doesn't come, I'm going to melt," said Mercedes Jenkins, 24, as she waited for her ride to work in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park. "I look at the people in cars with their windows rolled up. I wish it was me."
At a site where a public library is being built in nearby Alhambra, construction worker Greg Higuera, 39, and co-workers wore water-soaked bandanas under their hard hats and around their necks. Sweat drenched their shirts, and water bottles weighed down their tool belts.
"It's miserable," Higuera said.
Four senior centers opened in the San Fernando Valley to provide air-conditioned relief to the elderly.
The combination of heat, low humidity, an extraordinarily dry rain season and the Fourth of July concerned fire authorities.
"We're especially nervous," said State Fire Prevention Chief Dave Hillman on the eve of Independence Day. Fire departments expect thousands of extra calls this week, he said.
"This fire season is stacking up to be the worst I've ever seen," said Burbank Fire Chief Tracy Pansini, a 28-year veteran.
Pansini canceled that city's fireworks celebration last month, after Southern California lost more than 5,000 acres of brush to early season blazes in Los Angeles' Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills and on Santa Catalina Island.
On June 30, downtown Los Angeles closed out its driest rain-year in more than a century of record keeping -- just 3.21 inches since July 1, 2006 -- and there have been no signs of improvement since.
Mixing such conditions with fireworks could be disastrous, Pansini said.
John Arellano of East Los Angeles received a safety flier with the box of fireworks he bought Tuesday at a stand in Alhambra.
Asked what would keep him from lighting them, he said: "Only if my kids misbehave."
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